Instant Pot Key Lime Pie Recipe + Chocolate-Covered Key Lime Pie – FOOD is Four Letter Word (2024)

FAQs

What is it called Key lime pie? ›

key lime pie, an American dessert that consists of a graham-cracker or pastry crust, a yellow custard (primarily egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and key lime juice), and a topping of either whipped cream or meringue. The sweet and tart pie reportedly originated in Key West, Florida, in the late 19th century.

The dish is named after the small Key limes, which are more aromatic than the common Persian limes, and which have yellow juice. The filling in a Key lime pie is typically yellow because of the egg yolks. Key lime pie. Cut-away view of a Key lime pie.

In the 1800's a ship salvager named William Curry, Florida's first self-made millionaire had a cook known as Aunt Sally. Historians believe that Aunt Sally did not create the pie but instead perfected the pie created by area fishermen. William Curry has a mansion in Key West that is still standing today.

Key Lime Flavor: The key lime is smaller and more acidic than regular limes. Key lime pie derives its distinctive flavor from the juice of these key limes. The flavor is tangy, zesty, and slightly sweet, creating a refreshing and tart taste that is unlike other citrus pies.

There's an old story floating around Key West that Key lime pie was invented back in the 1890s—way before the Borden company's recipe—by a woman known only as "Aunt Sally". She allegedly concocted the pie in the kitchens of Key West's Curry Mansion, where she had access to sweetened condensed milk.

Citrus × aurantiifolia

The name comes from its association with the Florida Keys, where it is best known as the flavoring ingredient in Key lime pie. It is also known as West Indian lime, bartender's lime, Omani lime, or Mexican lime, the last classified as a distinct race with a thicker skin and darker green colour.

When preparing an authentic Key lime pie, either a graham cracker crust or a pastry crust is acceptable. As are both meringue and whipped cream for topping. The color, however, is not a matter of choice. Genuine Key lime pies are yellow.

It's generally accepted common knowledge that the Key lime pie was invented in Key West, Florida, where the key limes needed to achieve its signature tart taste grow in abundance.

The dish you'd likely name Florida's state food, the pride of the Keys, more American than apple pie, got its start as a way to prevent scurvy. Back in the 1800s, Key West sponge fishermen, called “hookers” by the locals, kept limes on board simply to prevent sickness.

Historians disagree about whether or not Aunt Sally created the pie herself, or if she perfected a dessert that Florida fishermen had already been making. A second theory about Key Lime Pie is that sponge fishermen of the Florida Keys created the first pie.

What makes Key lime pie green? ›

People expected their authentic Key lime pies to be green, matching the bright green lime color of the Persian limes they saw in their grocery stores. Key lime pie filling, however, takes its yellow color from the egg yolks used in its production.

When explorer Juan Ponce de Leon charted the islands of the Keys in 1513, he called them Los Martires (meaning “the martyrs”) because he thought they resembled men in distress. The more popular name, simply the Keys, is derived from the Spanish word Cayo (“small island”).

Unless you live in the Florida Keys, key limes are near impossible to find. Furthermore, they're so tiny that you'd need to juice at least twenty of them for this recipe. No thank you! Ordinary limes make an exceptional Key lime pie, and they are a much better alternative to bracingly tart bottled Key lime juice.

A key lime, also known as a Mexican lime or West Indies lime, is a type of hybrid citrus fruit commonly grown in the Florida Keys. They typically measure about one to two inches in diameter.

The main difference between key lime pie and cheesecake is the type of filling used. Key lime pie is made with key lime juice and sweetened condensed milk, while the cheesecake is made with cream cheese, sugar, and eggs. This difference in ingredients gives the two desserts a distinct flavor and texture.

They say key lime pie originated in Key West some time toward the end of the 1800s. As the story goes, one William Curry, a prominent Key West resident and Bahamian-born immigrant who became Florida's first millionaire, had a cook called “Aunt Sally” who concocted the first pie from key limes.

Florida has an official state pie, our renowned Key lime pie. It is our most perfect state symbol, uniting the sweet and sour, the factory-made and home-made, the foreign and the local.

United States

Key lime pie / Origin

The city of Key West, nestled in the southernmost tip of Florida, holds the distinction of being famous for Key lime pie. This refreshing dessert, characterized by its tart Key lime filling, sweet condensed milk, and crumbly graham cracker crust, is a culinary emblem of the Florida Keys.